Was looking through the really cool hauntedattraction.com blog and a few photos got me thinking about something that's bothered me for a long time - the sexy haunted attraction actress. I focus on the female variety because I have yet to stumble upon a photo of a modelesque dude working in the darkened tunnels of a haunted house (and because I'm a guy). But there seems to be an overwhelming amount of attractive females dressed in tight [and bloody] nurse costumes or gothic garb. And I'm confused by it. It's distracting and out-of-place. I understand that these places can't afford to pay a ton for their actors, and often rely on volunteer help from teens. So I guess if a girl shows up and wants to wear something like that, the "employer" doesn't have much room to insist that she get uglied up, or that she wear a mask.
So the issue at hand is the question: Can sexy be scary?
12 comments:
There is a dark side of human sexuality. Most people experience at least a modicum of sexual repression as they mature.
Many horror movies have delved into the shadow realm of sex and horror. Clive Barker, David Cronenberg, David lynch, etcetera, have all explored that territory. Compulsion and obsession, Attraction and repulsion, pleasure and pain. Fear, and love.
In this case though, I don't think that the intent is to reach into the unconscious and drag out our fears and compulsions and force us to confront them. I think the goal is merely to titillate in thematic style. Ironically, I think that many haunts use gore in a similar way, as a necessary aesthetic affectation, rather than to evoke real fear.
It can, but for the me the question is not so much "Can sexy be scary?" as it is "Is someone trying so hard to be sexy ever not funny?"
Sexy can definitely be scary. It's the ultimate "wolf in sheep's clothing" trick if it's done well. Trying to be sexy is either just sexy or hilariously not sexy.
Sexy being scary: the nurses in Silent Hill (the game, not the movie), Sil from Species, Eva from "Ghost Story" (1981) and various other femme fatale roles.
I'm too sexy for this comment.
Never understood it. I would understand small haunted houses like you mentioned, but the big budget places do it too. Universal's Halloween Horror Nights always has at least one house per year that consists of mostly attractive women just standing there staring. Somehow this fits with whatever theme they throw on the house, whether it be vampires, zombies, evil bikers, or whatever. Not scary at all, perhaps creepy, but for me, not in the intended way.
"Basic Instinct." Scary/sexy!
My opinion, sexy cannot be scary.
I was always disappointed in even the best haunts at Knott's because of the lame use of "sexy" in their Vampire mazes, etc. Sexiness assumes that there is a vulnerability on the part of the person who is being "sexy". Being vulnerable AND scary just doesn't happen.
Also, I have seen a Fabio-look-a-like in a Vampire maze and not only was I not scared, but I laughed. Hard.
I'm not sure...a beautiful woman in a plunging neckline-type-gothic gown who suddenly begins to drool blood, etc., could be quite frightening indeed (probably more so to a distracted male). How frightening would be heavily determined by acting ability and atmosphere. On the other hand, a sweet, smiling, little, old lady dressed in a skirt and a cardigan sweater who suddenly goes berserk and starts tearing at your flesh is absolutely more terrifying.(I'm thinking of that old lady in the diner in "Legion"--yikes!) I think it all goes back to childhood and what really scared the crap out of us...a little kid ain't gonna' be very trusting of a real sexy babe anyway but a loving grandma whose lap we just crawled up on -- her turning into a crazed fiend is scary as hell.
Every year, I go to Cedar Point's HalloWeekends event. Last year, they added a maze called Club Blood, a vampire's night club. The park always hires frats and sororities to play the monsters. Funny thing was, the sorority girls hired for Club Blood as "cage dancers", showed up to work the maze dressed in Goth lingerie. Needless to say, the park management wasn't too happy.
Sexy is scary....I was never able to talk to really hot girls...and that was without the psycho knife in their hands....
Nothing is scary in the age of sparkly vampires, except the news.
I am against sexy costumes in Haunted Houses as it encourages necrophilia amongst the masses.
I've heard more than one person say that Halloween gives some women an excuse to dress up as a hooker. I don't know if I'll ever forgive my sister for showing up at my haunt dressed as "Spongebabe", a Spongebob lookalike/ "hooker costume" as I like to call it.
Most people don't understand that not everything in life has to be about sex constantly.
I want to be /scared/ on Halloween, or at least nervous and enjoying myself. Leave the half-dressed girls in the clubs and give me a half-rotted zombie girl chasing me with a hatchet.
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